Xbox games downloadable after Fall 360 Update

Microsoft announced today as part of the Fall Xbox 360 Update that they are going to start making available select original Xbox titles for download in the Xbox Live Arcade. According to our sources, the first six Xbox titles for download will be Burnout 3; Crash Brandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex; Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge; Fable; Halo: Combat Evolved; and Indigo Prophecy.

The Xbox titles will cost 1,200 points, which makes the titles priced at about US$15 to download. According to Microsoft this puts these titles at about the same price that one could expect to find the title discounted or used.

Three major concerns are already being expressed about this plan. First, the original 20GB hard drive is really too small to handle downloads of this size; next, the estimated average download size will be in the 3GB to 4GB range, meaning that it will take a lot of time and bandwidth in order to download these titles; and last, but not least, the price of about $15 seems a bit high for titles that are already fairly old and considering that many sources offer these titles for a lot less than $15. While Microsoft has released a 120GB hard drive upgrade that users can buy and transfer their current 20GB hard drive over to the 120GB model, the price of the 120GB hard drive is still rather prohibitive at this point.

The concept of Microsoft’s move to a digital distribution model for games of this size is an interesting one, but it remains to be seen if it will be successful.